PROJECT SUMMARY The overall goal of the Administrative Core of the Digestive Health Center (DHC) is to develop and implement an administrative structure that integrates key functions of the Center. The Center management, day-to-day operation, and general oversight will be the responsibility of the Leadership Committee, which consists of the Center Director, three Associate Directors, and a Center Manager. The leaders have independent research programs and bring complementary skills to the Committee. Each Associate Director is responsible for either the Enrichment Series, Clinical Component, or Pilot and Feasibility Program. They meet weekly to review the operation of the Center. Six to 8 times a year, members of the Leadership Committee meets as an Executive Committee, which also includes the Directors of the biomedical Cores and one DHC investigator representing the membership at large. The function of the Executive Committee is to assist the leadership in reviewing Core utilization, provide support with scientific and overall directions of the DHC, and help with conflicts arising from membership applications. Once a year, or more often, the Executive Committee meets with the Internal Advisory Board to review strategic needs of the Center and maintain institutional engagement and support to foster digestive disease research in the medical center. This operational structure has been very successful since the creation of the DHC. Overseeing the strategic operation of the DHC is an External Advisory Board (EAB), which is comprised of four extramural scientific leaders in the field. The EAB monitors and evaluates ongoing research and programmatic directions of the Center, reviews, identifies, and recommends support for the most meritorious P/F applications, and assesses the effectiveness of the biomedical Cores. The EAB prepares and submits an annual report to the Chair of Pediatrics and Director Research of the Research Foundation, who holds the primary reporting authority and oversight of the Center. This structure has been very effective over the past 9 years of the DHC existence, has maintained the DHC as a real catalyst of scientific discoveries, has ensured the delivery of state-of-the-art services that meet the needs of Center investigators, has implemented successful enrichment and P/F programs, and has fostered an exceptional level of engagement and support from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to be real catalysts of discoveries in digestive disease.